Basketball New Zealand announce athletes for Under 14 National Camp

Basketball New Zealand is proud to announce the athletes invited to the 2021 Under 14 National Camp.

The invite-only gathering is being held at Tui Ridge in Rotorua and will bring together 160 of New Zealand’s most promising young basketballers. This year’s event has been separated into girls and boys – 80 athletes each – to adhere to Alert Level 2 COVID restrictions should they apply at the time. The girls’ camp is from 18-21 April, and boys from 21-24 April.

This is the first stage of the National Talent Program and was launched in 2017 to start a higher level of exposure to the talented athletes. Invitees are those who have exemplified an adept skill set and a commitment to training by their local associations.

Camp Director Dave Mackay says the camp is a great opportunity for kids to get an insight into what it takes and means to play sport at a high level.

“This is the fourth time we have held these camps and every year the feed back is great. The kids and coaches who attend really enjoy it.”

“The great thing about this camp is it gives kids the chance to soak up their love of basketball, gain a wider understanding of things such as fundamental skills, nutrition, good health, and also to meet like-minded people from all over the country.

“We also encourage them to enjoy all kinds of sport at this age and just focus on the enjoyment that sport provides – that’s because we absolutely agree with the Sport NZ Balance is Better philosophy. We encourage kids to play and experience as many sports as possible, not just basketball,” says Mackay.

As well as nominating the players, Associations also nominate staff to attend the upskilling event, where similarly to the athletes the plan is for the lessons to flow back to their community. The camp is currently supported by 28 of the 36 associations.

The assembly is a live-in camp and includes a detailed on-court teaching programme while being supported by a strong off-court programme including nutrition, drug-free sports education, and insights into athlete testing and assessments, and what the athlete pathway looks like should the players wish to consider that in future.

The Under 14 Camps adds to what will have been a productive past six months come the end of April in the National Talent Program space. Since last December, Basketball New Zealand has helped stage national and regional camps for the Under 15, 17 and 19 age groups, and has Selection Camps for the Under 17 and 19 age groups also running in April.

2021 National U14 Invited Athletes